Hannah Arendt and Participatory Democracy : A People's Utopia

"This book centers on a relatively neglected theme in the scholarly literature on Hannah Arendt's political thought: her support for a new form of government in which citizen councils would replace contemporary representative democracy and allow citizens to participate directly in decision-making in the public sphere. The main argument of the book is that the council system, or more broadly the vision of participatory democracy was far more important to Arendt than is commonly understood. Seeking to demonstrate the close links between the council system Arendt advocated and other major themes in her work, the book focuses particularly on her critique of the nation-state and her call for a new international order in which human dignity and "the right to have rights" will be guaranteed; her conception of "the political" and the conditions that can make this experience possible; the relationship between philosophy and politics; and the challenge of political judgement in the modern world"--Publisher's description Preface and Acknowledgements 6 Contents 9 1 Introduction 11 2 Federations, Councils, and the Origins of Totalitarianism 20 Federations and Councils 24 Political Emancipation Through Jewish-Arab Councils 31 The Idea of Humanity 35 3 Democracy and the Political 48 The Arendtian Public Sphere 56 Freedom and the Public Sphere in On Revolution 61 Agonism, Deliberation, and the Place of Athens in Arendt 64 4 Philosophy, Politics, and Participatory Democracy in Arendt 77 Philosophy and Politics in Arendt 81 The Trial of Socrates and Plato’s Legacy 86 Plato’s Models 94 Philosophy and Politics in the Councils 98 5 The Actor Does Not Judge: Arendt’s Theory of Judgment 108 The Problem of Judgment in Arendt 111 Spectators Outside the Public Realm 119 Between Phronesis and Judgment 122 6 Facing the Banality of Evil: Arendt’s Political Response to Eichmann 130 From Eichmann to Thinking? 132 Socratic Midwifery and Kantian Judgment 141 7 The Social and the Political 154 The Social and the Political 158 What Will They Talk About in the Councils? 167 8 Arendt and the Council Tradition 177 The Council Tradition 179 Arendt’s Contribution to the Council Tradition 186 Representation and the Question of Democracy 192 9 Arendt and the Current Participatory Moment 204 Arendt, Contemporary Political Theory, and Participatory Democracy 213 Conclusion: A People’s Utopia 227 Bibliography 231 Index 253 Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 1-9 Federations, Councils, and the Origins of Totalitarianism (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 11-38 Democracy and the Political (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 39-67 Philosophy, Politics, and Participatory Democracy in Arendt (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 69-99 The Actor Does Not Judge: Arendt’s Theory of Judgment (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 101-122 Facing the Banality of Evil: Arendt’s Political Response to Eichmann (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 123-146 The Social and the Political (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 147-169 Arendt and the Council Tradition (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 171-197 Arendt and the Current Participatory Moment (Shmuel Lederman)....Pages 199-221 Back Matter ....Pages 223-254